Has Minneapolis changed in the last decade/few decades? (St. Paul: brokers, neighborhoods)

[MattDen]

I am just wondering if Minneapolis has changed in the last few decades?

I know alot of people talk how Minneapolis used to be a superior city but is more a mediocre city as of late.

I lived in Minnesota from 2004-2006 and went to the Twin Cities many times and I found St. Paul to be a city high an exceptionally high quality of life but Minneapolis although it has lots of amenities, some great neighborhoods near the chain of lakes and is a corperate powerhouse to have fairly middle-of the road at best quality of life.

I remember for the first time when I saw the downtown Minneapolis I was extremely impressed. It feels like a very prosperous corperate affluent city when one is downtown but then I found the neighborhoods with the exception of SW Minneapolis to be less then appealing and many of the neighborhoods to be very dysfunctional.

When I saw the neighborhoods on the north-side I was fairly shocked because with all the wealth Minneapolis has they shouldnt tolerate neighborhoods in that sort of condition.

It seems like the city government in Minneapolis when I was in Minnesota has a very passive-it doesnt matter attitude. It is almost like the city government doesnt mind neglecting the areas where the power-brokers dont reside.

I know the mayor of Minneapolis during some conference on the north-side of Minneapolis didnt have the backbone to stand up to some "religious leader" from the North-side who brought some trouble-makers to a meeting about crime. Does it really take that much backbone to tell a "religious leader" from the north-side to shut up and sit down or is Minneapolis just to passive of a town to do that?

I guess before I went to Minnesota. I had an image of Minneapolis being the perfect city of the north but I found St. Paul to be an actuality more like what I was anticipating Minneapolis to be.

[yellowsnow]

MSP has the same problems all cities have. A lot of folks will say it's the color of your skin but it's not. It's pure simple economics. We have too many poor people who feel light years away from the American Dream. The jobs they are qualified for don't pay a living wage and that makes life on the other side much more attractive. We have too many single parents trying to do it all on 1 income. We have too many people who don't speak English. We spend so much money trying to teach kids to speak English there is less available for the other kids. A lot of it is growing pains. Minnesota has been more insulated in the past than it is now. New populations didn't WANT to live here because of the weather/cold. For some reason that has changed! We are taxed too much and charged exorbitant fees. A lot of people are tired of paying for 'everyone elses' problems. But ask anyone who lives in Arizona, that's just life as usual.

Time will sort it out. But that doesn't help the people living here today. There aren't too many of us who were never poor or whose ancestors didn't come from somewhere else. Most of our population is good, hardworking people. It's the bad ones who make the news!

[nick is rulz]

the economic factor does tend to go hand in hand with race. The two aren't related because of race, but as a whole, stating that black neighborhoods tend to be poorer is a fact.

Economics also play into crime. Since there are no real economic opportunities for poor communities (go drive thru northside if you dont believe me) and the legal system equates to a slap on the wrist, the prospect of hustling is tempting for many people.